House to revise law on BPK
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The House of Representatives has decided to revise Law No. 5/1973 on the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) which is aimed at, among other things, making the agency's audit work more effective.
The decision was made at a plenary session on Tuesday, and was approved by nine House factions.
BPK is mandated to audit the implementation of the state budget, as well as to conduct audits of suspected irregularities in the use of state funds, or in the management of state assets.
But the agency has often complained about the government's lackluster efforts in combating corruption, saying that most of the suspected corruption cases uncovered by the agency have been ignored.
Spokesman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) Emir Muis said that there must be clear sanctions for parties ignoring the audit findings of BPK.
"Such sanctions are required to help ensure the effectiveness of the BPK audit work," he told the plenary session.
"But on the other hand, the (revised) law will also ensure that audit work is conducted in accordance with existing regulations," he added.
Spokesman of the Golkar Party Hamka Yamdu said that the revision of the law should also be designed at forcing government officials, who manage state assets and the utilization of state funds, to submit accountability reports to BPK.
The revision of the BPK law is expected to be completed before the current sitting period of the House ends on Dec. 19, according to some lawmakers.
The current BPK board is supposed to end their five-year mandate in October, but President Megawati Soekarnoputri has extended the tenure for another three months. The new board will be selected next year.
The current law on BPK stipulates that the board members of BPK and its chairman are nominated by the House and appointed by the President.
But according to the country's amended Constitution, BPK members are now to be selected by the House after hearings with the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), a body that will only be formed after next year's legislative election.